With some US$600 million invested, The Grand- Ho Tram became the largest foreign invested tourism project. Principal owner Philip Falcone wants it included among casinos where Vietnamese can gamble. (Photo credit: Asian Coast Development Ltd)Asian Coast Development Ltd

Investigative journalism group ProPublica reports links between Donald Trump and Philip Falcone, principal owner of The Grand- Ho Tram casino resort in Vietnam, two hours south of commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City. The story suggests that the Trump administration has taken unusual steps to help the casino, noting that both Trump and Falcone, founder of Harbinger Capital Partners, have been represented by attorney Marc Kasowitz. The article says that in December 2016 Kasowitz, not the U.S. State Department, arranged a coveted telephone conversation between President-elect Trump and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. After that, Team Trump tried to help Falcone; I know because I gave Vietnam advice on how to respond.

Falcone and his Vietnam investment vehicle, Asian Coast Development Ltd (ACDL), have long sought permission for Vietnamese citizens to gamble at Ho Tram. Vietnam requires a foreign passport for entry into its casinos and electronic gaming parlors. ACDL boosted its political clout in September 2016 by appointing board members with links to Hillary Clinton and Trump. In 2017, Kasowitz accompanied Falcone on a trip to Vietnam, sitting in on meetings with government officials.

To get its casino license, ACDL pledged to invest US$4 billion in multiple resorts on its 160 hectare (400 acre) site dubbed the Ho Tram Strip, featuring 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles) of beachfront. In July 2013, The Grand- Ho Tram opened with 541 sumptuous rooms overlooking the seas designed by renowned casino architect Paul Steelman, plus a casino with 90 gaming tables, mainly for VIPs, and dozens of gaming machines. Greg Norman designed links course The Bluffs ranks number 35 in Golf Digest’s latest global list. ACDL is currently adding a second hotel tower that will bring the room count to 1,100, plus another 1,000 keys as a condotel and villas for sale as timeshares. ACDL’s estimated investment to date tops US$600 million.

ACDL has high hopes of succeeding with foreign high rollers supplementing non-gambling domestic guests on the best patch of beach closest to the former Saigon. But without a convenient international airport or border crossing to supply foreign players, most gaming industry observers believe Vietnamese gamblers are crucial to Ho Tram’s success.

That potential lifeline became more real in January 2017 when a long anticipated government decree opened gambling to Vietnamese able to show monthly income equivalent to US$445 under a three year “experimental” program limited to two integrated resorts under construction by Vietnamese developers. The decree also cut casinos’ investment requirement to US$2 billion. The IR in Phu Quoc, an island off Vietnam’s southwest coast, is expected to open in the second half of this year, while the Van Don IR in the northeast facing Ha Long Bay will likely debut next year. Other casinos can apply to participate in the experiment, and Ho Tram has.

The new rules and the new U.S. president added impetus to ACDL’s lobbying efforts. Ahead of Prime Minister Phuc’s visit to Washington in May last year, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi reportedly pressed Vietnam about why Ho Tram, the largest foreign investment in Vietnam’s tourism sector to date, wasn’t earmarked for local play. Approached for help, I suggested taking a page from the Trump playbook: President Trump talks about “America first,” and Vietnam is doing the same thing, allowing casino owned by Vietnamese to host locals first. I don’t know if that idea made it into Prime Minister Phuc’s talking points for his White House meeting. ProPublica reports that after Trump and Phuc met, they ran into Kasowitz, who claims he was visiting 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for other reasons.

Philip Falcone made his money on Wall Street before placing a big bet on Vietnam. (Photo credit: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg)

Despite the lobbying, Vietnam rejected Ho Tram’s application for Vietnamese gamblers in October, multiple sources say. Several sources report that ACDL is trying to sell Ho Tram. A spokesperson for ACDL “categorically” denies any interest in selling, and another source offers convincing supporting evidence.

There are legitimate questions about the Trump administration blurring lines between public affairs and private business, but Ho Tram is hardly a compelling example.

The U.S. government traditionally stands up for American business overseas. As a junior diplomat in Tanzania in 1981, I briefed the Health Ministry on U.S. opposition to a World Health Organization edict prohibiting giving free samples of baby formula to new mothers, a practice causing infant deaths in poor countries by discouraging breast feeding. Uncle Sam cared more about dairy exports.

The U.S. fights to open markets for exports, including cigarettes, not encouraging smoking, but seeking a free marketplace. That argument becomes less compelling with a protectionist administration, but don’t expect hypocrisy to get in the way of a talking point.

Trump is a former casino owner – by most accounts, among the least competent ever – lavishly supported by Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson and a personal friend of Wynn Resort’s ousted founder Steve Wynn, so expect his administration to support U.S. casinos overseas. Trump has gotten close to China’s President Xi Jinping ahead of expiration of Macau concessions for three U.S. casino company subsidiaries, Sands China, Wynn Macau and MGM China.

More interestingly, Trump seems to have formed a tight bond with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japan is moving toward casino legalization, and gaming companies from across the world are primed to compete for a projected three licenses in the world’s third largest economy. Is Trump cozying up to Abe to help U.S. companies get a piece of the action? And, as long as he’s waving the American flag rather than pushing a particular company, is anything wrong with that?